Elsbeth has been a delightful surprise for CBS, both in terms of ratings but also reworking a brand new concept of a series around a character who had previously appeared on The Good Wife and its spinoff The Good Fight. It also made headlines last season when creators Robert and Michelle King clarified it was absolutely not a spinoff series. So, imagine my surprise when the preview to Season 2 featured none other than Nathan Lane, and subsequently imagine how bummed I was to find out his role.
Fans of The Good Wife probably already know Nathan Lane had a significant part (and helped to amp up those syndication costs to $2 mil) starting around the middle of the series’ run. His character Clarke Hayden first came on board to help Lockhart Gardner out of bankruptcy, but the move prompted him to reengage with the litigation he’d originally trained for. He later passed the bar and joined Cary and Alicia when they left the firm. To me, like Carrie Preston herself, Lane played one of the great characters from the original series and I was jazzed to see him back on Elsbeth. Only it seems he won’t be playing the same character.
While Season 2 of Elsbeth won't be hitting the 2024 TV schedule for a few more weeks, the trailer for the CBS drama shows Nathan Lane will be playing an opera afficionado whom Elsbeth encounters before a show and whom the logline mentions the sharp-witted lawyer “suspects an obsessed opera lover (Nathan Lane) was driven to murder because of a ringing cell phone.” It’s not exactly the type of behavior the conscientious Mr. Hayden might get up to. (Though as a fastidious person he'd also probably hate cell phone use in a theater.)
Look, on the one hand these comments from the creators about the show not really being a spinoff make sense in that now they can bring back some of the regulars they have worked with in the past in a new capacity. But also how bummed am I about this development? I am very bummed, Kings! Hear me say it!
Am I very excited that Season 2 of Elsbeth is kicking off with Nathan Lane? Yes. Am I really excited to see the two excellent actors go toe-to-toe as a murder plot is unraveled on the small screen? Of course.
It’s also true that it will certainly be a meatier role for Lane to come on board as a murderer attempting to get away with it than if he had popped in as Clarke Hayden for some random b-plot on the series. This is likely why no one wants to really call The Good Wife a spinoff, despite references to Carrie Agos and Elsbeth’s past on the series.
I’m also not someone who normally needs character crossover fan service to enjoy a project, so even I feel personally weirded out by my feelings here. However, I think it’s just because I love a lot of the characters on The Good Wife so much, including the delicious stinkers like David Lee and the true baddies (who might actually make sense on Elsbeth should the show ever want a murderer to get away with it) like Colin Sweeney. I want to see them referenced or periodically onscreen in some capacity. I want to feel like the universes are attached, even if they only occasionally might find connective tissue.
I think my frustration stems from the fact the show has just taken clear pains to distance itself from the universe, and while I get the bents are different, I would argue a lot of fans are one and the same. It's going to be hard for me personally to distance myself from Clarke when I see Lane in this role.
Outside of my hope for former Good Wife stars to appear, Carrie Preston already told CinemaBlend her dream Elsbeth guest star would be her husband Michael Emerson (who is recently coming off a stint in Fallout). He’s also said he’d dig it, and given the number of high-profile guest stars the show has garnered so far, I see a future where all kinds of big names could give playing murderer of the week a go. But there’s still a part of me that would love, you know, on a rare occasion, to bring in Elsbeth’s colleagues or others from the universe that spawned her character.
Elsbeth returns to the schedule on Thursday, October 17 at 10 p.m., only on CBS.
